1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for generating sinusoidal signals having application in data communication systems and other environments.
2. Description of Related Art
As successive generations of wireless communication systems are deployed around the world, the importance of providing clear and cost-effective communication services increases. Generally, the clarity of wireless communication systems is dependent on using precision components, such as low-distortion complex sinusoid oscillators. Although a number of low-distortion sinusoid oscillators are available, these low-distortion oscillators can be prohibitively expensive.
Available less expensive sinusoid oscillators may not produce complex sinusoids having the requisite distortion, precision and stability. For example, as successive points of a complex sinusoid are generated, the magnitude of the complex sinusoid can deteriorate towards zero. As a result, such oscillators are generally useful only for a short duration and cannot be used for various purposes, such as generating or decoding continuous streams of modulated data.
Another problem with these less expensive sinusoid oscillators is that any communication signal generated with them may be excessively distorted. Similarly, any receiver using such sinusoid oscillators may contaminate a received signal such that the receiver will not reliably extract any information contained in the communication signal. Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems that can provide precision complex sinusoids using an economy of electronic hardware.